


Antidote

by batwayneman



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Joker toxin, Wayne Enterprises, Wayne Enterprises employees are good people
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 09:08:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,044
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9714749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/batwayneman/pseuds/batwayneman
Summary: Sometimes, the people of Gotham save each other.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by the first episode of Powerless, but has nothing to do with the actual show.

Bruce had just finished putting the files from their last project away when Tim returned from his coffee run. He nodded in thanks, and took a long drink as Tim sat back down at his half of the enormous desk. When they were both working at the Wayne Enterprises building in Gotham, it was easiest for everyone if they were in the same office.

 “Kinslow is sending someone up for a proposal. From the Med-Chem Research team, I think,” Tim said, taking a sip of his drink, and flicking the mouse to turn his computer on.

Bruce furrowed his eyebrows and hummed, taking another sip. There were various research teams that were funded by many subsections of WE; scientists were given freedom to use the grant money for whatever research they wished, and were given a fair cut of the profits, if any profitable ideas ever came from the research.

It was a very competitive grant, to say the least.

All sort of products had been produced by WE through these teams; the most recent being a super durable polymer that could be used to create strong, but lightweight rope. The Air Force had happily bought it to use in their parachutes.

Bruce had been able to modify it to be part of the newest model of his grappling gun.

“I didn’t know a MedChem research team was close to anything,” Bruce mused.

Tim shrugged. “I didn’t think so either. I don’t know what this is about,” he paused. “Hopefully not supervillainy.”

“I would hope that Kinslow wouldn’t send them directly to us if it was supervillainy,” Bruce deadpanned.

“Yeah but he’s an idiot, so you never know,” Tim scoffed.

Bruce smirked into his coffee. Kinslow was the head supervisor of the MedChem subsection at WE, and had made the mistake years ago of remarking how ‘adorable’ it was that Tim wanted to help run WE. Tim had never been forgiven him. To be fair, Kinslow certainly wasn’t the most intelligent supervisor that WE employed. He was a hard worker with years of experience, but was known to be a terrible communicator.

There was a loud knock at the door. Bruce automatically slouched more in his seat and put a more open expression on his face. After so many years of flitting between ‘Bruce’ and ‘Brucie’, it had become easier to slip between them.

“Come on in!” He called.

The door opened and two people entered the office. They looked like brother and sister, around Dick’s age, both with straight black hair, and high cheekbones below slanted eyes. The brother looked apprehensive, while the sister looked on the edge of anger.

“Hi there, what can we help you with today?” Bruce asked, smiling.

“I’m Janice Sosa, and this is my brother Alan Sosa. We’re a team from the MedChem independent funded research part of WE,” Janice said abruptly.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Tim said appeasingly, “But why did you need to meet with us? Project specifics are usually discussed with your supervisor, and funding problems go to Mr. Fox.”  Bruce and Tim usually only get involved at the very end to approve products.

She pursed her lips into a tight, angry line.

“We did speak with our _supervisor_ , and that stupid, selfish _asshole_ told us to come talk to you-” she stopped talking abruptly, having just realized she called her boss an asshole to two heads of the company. She flushed angrily, but did not take the words back. Her brother looked like he was about to throw up.

 “Okay, well, why don’t you start at the beginning, so we can figure out exactly why Mr. Kinslow is a stupid, selfish asshole,” Bruce said jovially. Tim snorted.

Janice and Alan looked taken aback, like they couldn’t decide if Bruce was being genuine or patronizing.

“We created a cheap, effective method of producing an antidote for the Joker toxin,” Alan finally stated, much more soft spoken than his sister.

Bruce raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“Really? You have the compound and the synthesis process ready to go, right now?” Tim asked incredulously.

“Yes,” Janice said, “We have several months of lab results that proves that is has almost identical effectiveness to that used in hospitals, and the process to create it is faster and cheaper.”

Tim started typing frantically on the computer. He pulled up their research file, and started skimming through it.

“So it’s not the same compound used in the hospitals?” he clarified as he read.

“No,” she replied, “The chemical structure is different; but it doesn’t affect the effectiveness at clearing the toxin from the body, and makes it easier to mass produce.”

“That’s absolutely incredible,” Bruce said sincerely, and Tim nodded. Alan gave a small smile and, seemingly despite herself, Janice relaxed marginally.

“Is there a production outline for the antidote? I’d love to go over it with you,” Tim asked, still scrolling rapidly through the file.

“There is a summary at the end, but the process starts with-”

Bruce let his eyes glaze over and mind wander as he listened to them go over the synthesis of the compound. He trusted Tim to tell him about it later, and they wouldn’t be expecting Bruce Wayne to understand the details of pharmaceutical chemistry.

He remembered the night the first time Joker had used his toxin. He had stood silently beside Jim as both of them stared around the building that had been gassed. There had still been a slight green tinge in the air; the colouring agent that Joker had added to the gas hadn’t dispersed as quickly as the actual toxin. Bruce had assumed that the colour was added so that people _knew_ that they were breathing in a poison. It was terrifying to be in a room that was filling with a clearly poisonous gas, but being unable to leave. Trying to hold your breath as long as you could, but eventually running out of air and gasping it in, knowing you were killing yourself.

The bodies were always horrific, the characteristic wide, bulging eyes and the terrible, frozen grin on people’s faces. Bruce remembers one woman who had died clutching her neck with one hand, the locked door with the other, eyes frozen wide open, and that horrific smile on her face.

He also remembers the relief of finally creating an antidote that could stop the poison, and the desperate rush to try to deliver it to all the places that had been attacked that night. He hadn’t looked at the process since then, too content that the chemical worked to look into it any further. As he watched the siblings explain their product, both looking much more comfortable now that they could talk about chemistry instead of business, he was happy that someone had been attentive into what he had overlooked.

“-the waste products are no worse than any industrial waste, so they can even go to the same processing plant,” Alan finished. Bruce refocused on the conversation.

“This all sounds spectacular, and I know you don’t need me to tell you this, but you should be proud of yourselves,” Bruce smiled. “I guess the next step is for you to talk to Mr. Fox and start figuring out marketing and sales, and I’m sure Tim would love to help-”

“No.” Janice snapped, suddenly looking furious again.

“What- no?” Bruce asked, an exaggerated look of confusion on his face.

“I will not have our product be sold to the highest paying, greediest customer.” She snarled. She looked at her brother, who nodded. “This product is too-” she stopped, a multitude of emotions on her face, too overwhelmed to continue to speak.

“Go on,” said Tim gently. She took a deep breath.

“We want to create a distribution device, so that people in Gotham could carry in their bag, so when there is an attack, they could administer the antidote themselves.”

“So like an epi-pen,” Tim remarked.

“Yes,” said Alan quietly.

“Our production method is inexpensive enough that we could sell this product cheap so that anyone could afford it,” Janice paused. “And we will _only_ allow you to use our method with the understanding that it is to be sold as cheaply as possible so that everyone can afford it,” she paused. “Our father was killed in one of the Joker’s first attacks, years ago. There wasn’t an antidote back then. But if he had our product, he could have lived.” She stared them right in the eye, daring them to disagree. Alan still stood beside her, unmoving.

Bruce slid the box of tissues towards her. She glared at him cautiously, but eventually took one and wiped the tears off her face, and blew her nose.

“How long did you say the shelf life of your product was?” Bruce asked.

Janice and Alan glanced at each other, confused by the non-sequitur.

“It’s about five years. The toxin is volatile, so our compound can degrade up to 70% and still be effective,” Alan finally said uncertainly.

“That’s great! So people only need to buy now ones every couple years! Tim, do you have-”

“Yup,” Tim interrupted. He finished writing a name down on a piece of scrap paper, and handed it to Janice. “This is the name of the girl you want to talk to in manufacturing, she can help you design a delivery mechanism with minimal materials to keep the costs down.”

“We’ll talk to Mr. Fox, he’ll contact you about specifics in price and marketing or anything else. I’m afraid I’m pretty useless at all of that,” Bruce chuckled.

“Wait, wait, that’s it? You’re ok with not making a profit off of this? I want it as cheap as possible,” Janice insisted. Bruce looked her in the eye.

“Your product can do a lot of good, and the cheaper it is, the more people it can help. We think you’re right to sell it affordably. You’re doing a wonderful thing for the people of Gotham,” Bruce said seriously.

It was sometimes difficult, when your night job involved actively seeking out the people trying to hurt others, to remember how many citizens in Gotham who still wanted to do good; who were still trying, despite all opposition, to make it a better place. It was always refreshing to be reminded that his family was not the only ones trying to save Gotham.

Janice and Alan were still standing in the office, looking thunderstruck.

“Let me guess,” Tim said, smiling, “Kinslow said that there was no way we’d go for it, that the purpose of a business was to make money, and sent you up here hoping you’d embarrass yourselves?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Alan said.

“I’ll speak with him, you’ll both be getting a written apology. He’s your boss, but he’s supposed to work with you, not dismiss cases without talking about it,” Bruce assured them.

“Okay, um, thank you,” Janice said, as they turned to head out of the office. Tim nodded at them as Bruce waved. The door closed.

“So when you say you’ll speak with him, you mean I can speak with him, right?” Tim asked slyly, turning to look at Bruce.

“No,” Bruce replied. Tim huffed.

“Fine, but I want to be there,” Tim said. Bruce pretended to think about it for a second.

“Sure.”

“I told you that Kinslow’s an idiot.”

“I know he is,” Bruce sighed, “But he only has a few years until retirement. Think you can wait that long?”

“Maybe a little public shaming will un-stick his head from his ass.” Tim mused.

“We can only hope.” said Bruce, and Tim chuckled.

“Their work checks out?” Bruce asked, taking a final sip of his coffee.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah, it’s really fantastic stuff. We’ll go over in detail later, but it looked like everything checks out.”

“Great,” Bruce nodded. He opened up his email, and started writing an email to let Lucius what about the new product.

“Why didn’t we think of this?” Tim asked, looking at Bruce of the corner of his eye. Bruce returned his gaze.

“We _have_ been a little busy.” Bruce pointed out. Tim smirked and rolled his eyes.

“Well, at least someone was working on it,” Tim said, as he started to type.

Bruce smiled. 

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on tumblr, same username as on here!


End file.
